Current Events

We are living in a time of great upheaval in the world.  No matter what, our faith is in God and His saving grace in Christ.  A couple things came to mind tonight I thought I'd share:

1)  We need to pray for Israel.  That the power of God is not only with them, but that His glory will protect His people.  That we, as Christ-followers stand with Israel.  And that God would use this opportunity to reach non-believers to bring them to Him.  This is not an American-thing; it's where we stand.

2)  I'm reminded of the blood of Christ washing away our sins.  One of my "best" pairs of shorts were the ones I wore the day we got muddy.  I mean, these shorts are 5.11 brand, cotton/ripstop, water-resistant, and wore well over the past two summers.  In fact, they stayed somewhat stiff the whole time.

Enter the mud.  There are no regrets from this end getting dirty -- filthy, actually.  In fact, I wrote the shorts off as stained forever, dark, unclean, wrecked.  When I got the shorts back from the Casa ladies who washed my shorts, they were better than new!  In fact, they're softer, look newer (really), and more comfortable than ever.  They're even more "usable," like a great pair of broken in shoes.

Do you ever think about what Christ's death on the cross means?  I'm reminded by David Platt in his book Radical, that Christ didn't sweat blood because of his fear of the cross, or of the punishment of the Romans, or even the betrayal of Judas.  Not the denials of Peter.  Not the nails. 

He sweat blood because God's wrath against the world was upon him - the sins of all the world, from the beginning of time to the end.  The wrath that I was entitled to receive.  The condemnation I earned in my old life.  The emptiness and separation from God I deserved. 

Multiply that by cosmic proportions. 

The cross isn't a piece of jewelry.  It's where my eternal life was earned and saved by God's Son Himself, Jesus who is the Christ; The Messiah.

I've done my best and it's not enough.  But I don't have to earn His love.  I'm surrounded by the truth that He loves me, so now I see that my life is ALL His.

He washed my sins away when I was filth.  Excrement actually.  Now better than ever and the best is yet to come.


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